Starry Eyed
by moni-neechan
Summary: Momoi drags her lazy best friend om the school trip to the planetarium, where old stories are dug out and turned into something maybe even better than their friendship.


The tall navy haired boy frowned as he glared at his the small picture of his best friend on the cellphone screen. He had planned his day out perfectly and doing nothing but sleeping and eating sounded pretty damn fine to him. He hadn't expected a bubbly pinkette, who would wake him up at 7 am with a call and destroy all his plans.

„You're not skipping Dai-chan!" she said as if she had read his mind. Thinking about it she probably had, considering her outstanding skills in analysis.

"Satsuki, don't get on my nerves." Aomine pulled his blanket over his head and mumbled a low 'Leave me alone' into the speaker.  
"Don't make me come over; and don't test me, you know I will. There's nothing bad about it either; you wouldn't even have to learn anything."  
"Then why do I have to come?"  
"Because it's compulsive. And besides, you'll just sit in a dark room for a few hours, just like you would at home. How bad can it be?"

"You know it's not the same, Satsuki. But fine, I'll go, but you have to buy me ice cream afterward."

She snorted.  
"I don't get why I have to get you something for doing things you actually have to do, but alright. If you'll come then. Pick you up at 8, don't be late alright?"  
"Yeah yeah whatever."

He slammed his phone shut and groaned loudly into his pillow.  
"This woman is gonna be the death of me."

He pulled himself out of bed before taking a short shower and getting dressed. He looked at his fridge, but decided not to eat anything, because he knew Momoi would have his breakfast ready when she came.  
True enough, half an hour later his best friend stood on his doorstep, two sandwiches in hand.

"Good morning Dai-chan," she beamed, but he only acknowledged her happy greeting with a short nod.

"Don't scowl like that, I'm sure it's gonna be interesting, even for you. Do you remember that one time when we were kids and snuck out at night to go stargazing?"

A fond smile spread over Aomine's face at the memory.  
"Of course I remember. I got in a hell lot of trouble because of you. They thought I had convinced you to go. even though it was the other way round."  
"Well, I just don't look like such a troublemaker," she laughed. "But the sky was really pretty, you'll have to admit that." Momoi jumped up to him happily and hooked herself into his arm.  
"Yeah well, I guess it was nice, yeah."

They strolled on like that, making light smalltalk until they reached the bus stop, where their classmates were already waiting.

"Look, the sweethearts arrived," Momoi's friend chirped teasingly how she always did.

"Whatever you say Ayami," she brushed the comment off with a small smile.

"What did you do to get him to come?"  
"I promised to treat him to ice cream," the girl answered with a sigh, when Aomine walked over to the boys, looking tired as always.

"I'm still waiting for the day that he actually becomes responsible, but I guess that's all in vain," she laughed. She was exaggerating though. Momoi had definitely seen some changes in her friend's behavior as of late.  
Her thoughts were disturbed by the arriving bus, but the short ride towards the planetarium was also filled with thoughts of her childhood friend.

Her keen sense of observation immediately noticed even the slightest changes in him. He tended to pick up his phone quicker and more often, he wasn't as resistant to her suggestions and pleas as before and he showed up to training more often than not. Aomine had reduced his perverted comments to a minimum and the day before she had actually seen him doing his homework.  
He seemed to be growing up after all, but it made her think. What if he wouldn't need her anymore? What if he moved on from the relationship they had, simply because he wasn't dependent enough anymore. She didn't wanna think like that, but she couldn't help herself. Was it really possible to stay best friends for such a long time without anything changing?

She inwardly shook her head. Of course it wouldn't be possible, because something already had changed.  
Momoi herself had changed with him. The time she didn't have to worry about him anymore the girl now spent thinking about him. The looks she shot him now were longer and more intense and her scowl, when she saw him looking at one of his magazines again, was even deeper. She had tried to resist, tried to run away from the things she felt, but it didn't seem to work to well.  
She had fallen for him, if only slightly. She knew the side of him, that nobody else ever got to see. She had experienced the caring side of him, the side which wasn't only lazy and rude. She had seen him grieving, breaking, healing and even loving, and every side of him only made her like him more.

She turned her head towards the back of the bus and her eyes met with familiar navy ones. The boy's eyebrows rose up in silent question, but she simple smiled and shook her head, which made him roll his eyes. She knew he would do that, she always knew.

She knew him better than anyone else, his habits, his physical abilities, his thoughts. Over the years he became ease to read for her, but it was still interesting to do so, even after all those years.

She felt the bus come to a halt and got out, chitchatting with her girlfriends when Aomine passed her and slightly stroked his big hand against hers. The girl blushed and quickly looked up, but before she could say anything Aomine was already way before her. Not wanting to attract attention she tried to shift her attention back to the conversation. It must have been an accident anyway. Aomine wasn't the kind of person to do something like this on purpose, so she just pushed that thought away and went on into the Planetarium, where she already saw Aomine straying from the group.  
"Dai-chan," she muttered and looked at her friends. "You go ahead, I'll go and make sure Aomine-kun will be on time, alright?"  
The three girls nodded and she made her way towards the hallway where she saw him disappear.

"Dai-chan, hurry up! The others already went in," Momoi nagged as she pulled her tall friend along.  
"Chill, Satsuki. It's not going to start for another five minutes."  
"I know that, but all the good seats will be taken if you keep up that lazy pace."  
Aomine rolled his eyes at her antics. They were in a planetarium after all; they would be looking up most of the time anyway. Knowing that arguing wouldn't get him anywhere though he quickly followed the girl's fast steps. They rushed into the barely lit room, but still found themselves searching for seats in the very back. Momoi plopped down with an annoyed huff as she stretched her neck in an attempt to see what's going on in the front.  
"Welcome to the planetarium," a strong voice boomed suddenly and the conversations stopped immediately. "I'm really glad to find so many of you here today. My name is Professor Furihata and I will tell you some more about the enigma which is our universe."

That's when Aomine felt a skinny elbow poking his side to get his attention.

"That's the father of a Seirin player," the pinkette whispered leaning closer to her childhood friend, but he only shrugged his shoulders.  
"I'll never get how you even know stuff like this," he murmured back.  
"Woman's -"  
"Intuition. Yeah I know, I know, Satsuki. That's still not an explanation though; but I'm not even sure I want to know of the dirty tricks you use to get your hands on data."  
"Oh shut it Dai-chan. But of course a girl always has her secrets and I would probably just bore you anyway."  
Two girls that sat in front of the pair suddenly turned around, sporting angry glares, and hushed them harshly. Momoi puffed her cheeks at the rudeness and Aomine sighed quietly, but stopped talking and started listening to Professor Furihata's anekdotes and scientific explanations. He had a calming and confident voice, which was even more prominent when the lights in the room slowly flickered out.  
Due to the darkness Aomine couldn't see the sparkle in Momoi's eyes as the projection of a starry sky slowly spread above them, but he could certainly hear her low gasp.  
"It's like we're stargazing, Dai-chan," she whispered.

"To think you still like stargazing after all what happened back then," came the chuckled reply and a fond smile spread over his lips, while Momoi's sported somewhat of a frown.  
When they were children they had gone camping with Aomine's parents. Even though the girl was freaked out by all the bugs she bravely fought through them, seeing as it was just too much fun to miss out because of minor things like that. They had gone watching lightning bugs at dawn, swimming in a small lake and had taken a hike through a nearby forest. One day Momoi had suggested they'd sneak out at night to go stargazing, because she found it totally cute and pretty, and Aomine had immediately agreed. She had always been a romantic and in her opinion a starry sky was nothing she could simply ignore. So when she was shaken awake by her best friend at night she followed him to a near the forest.  
The night sky had been beautiful, with thousands and millions of lights scattered all around the almost full moon and the young girl stared in wonder. She was so amazed, that she didn't give her best friend much thought when he's said he's be right back. Even though it had been his idea in the first place the boy had soon gotten bored and seeing as his second favorite thing to do, after playing with his best friend was teasing her, he made his way towards the pond in the search for a frog.  
Soon Momoi had started worrying about him though, so she had looked around and shouted his name shyly. With new found determination to save him from whatever had him stuck she had made her way into the forest.

"You were crying like a baby when I found you in that forest, crouched beside a tree, covering your ears."  
"We've been through this already. It's not my fault you simply decided to wander off to god knows where just to scare me."  
"And it's not my fault you decided to come looking for me."  
The girl sighed.  
"I guess it was just a series of unfortunate events. I'm just glad our parents never got to know."  
"Even though you confused my dad, when you so vehemently refused to go stargazing the next day. Scaredy cat."  
They both grinned at the memory and Momoi leaned to the side, resting her head on the tall boys shoulder.  
"Thanks for rescuing me though. You can be such a hero when you want to," she chuckled and Aomine huffed. The ace absentmindedly stroked the girl's long hair and she pushed a little closer to him. She had begged him to stroke her hair all the time a while ago so he had started forming this habit.  
Projections of planets and galaxies came and went and not even Momoi listened to what was spoken. She allowed herself a few moments of not overthinking for once and she noticed how relaxed she suddenly felt.  
"I should do this more often," she murmured.  
"What?"  
"Nothing. Simply doing nothing. Not thinking about anything in particular. It's nice," she smiled and looked up at Aomine's tan face, pressing her lips shortly against his shoulder.  
"This is just perfect," she whispered and she didn't even notice how red her friend had gotten in the face.  
"Idiot. At least do it properly," he complained and lifted up her chin, crashing his lips against hers.  
At first she was unmoving but after a moment her eyes fluttered closed as she pusher herself farther into the kiss.  
They quietly parted, noticing with relief, that no one had noticed. They said nothing more and simply enjoyed the show, both engulfed in their own thoughts.


End file.
